Lessons In Love
by Merwhos
Summary: Merlin and Morgana end up trapped in the crystal cave, and come to the shocking discovery that their magic isn't working. They're forced to set aside their differences and have to work together to find a way out.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: The title of this story is inspired by the song Lessons In Love – Neon Trees. **

_Chapter 1_

Merlin had never felt more helpless in his life. He had lost one of the most precious thing in his life, his magic. He could feel the emptiness inside of him. He tried desperately to reach his magic, but it was like it was pulled out of his reach every time. He knew this could be no one other than Morgana's doing. How could she have taken the thing that was so special to him? She must know how much his magic meant to him, especially her, who has magic as well. He felt incredibly angry, but he knew he would stand no chance against her, not without his magic.

"Can I get my magic back?" He asked Gaius, desperately. He crossed his arms over his chest, and held back the tears in his eyes in a desperate attempt to look confident. Gaius passed him an understanding look. It didn't exactly make him feel better at all; it just reminded him of his position. He remembered what he told Gaius the first year he came here.

_"If I can't use magic, I might as well die."_ But right now it was more than that. Now, his magic was even more important. His magic was the only thing that could keep Arthur safe. Without his magic, all these years of protecting Arthur and putting his life on the line, would have been for nothing.

Gaius got an old book from the shelf, and looked through it, a frown on his face. Merlin didn't like that frown, and he was dreading the fact that there was no way of getting his magic back. If that was the case, Morgana was going to pay, if there was one thing he would never forgive, it was if someone took his magic. To Merlin's relief, Gaius stopped scrimmaging through the pages, and actually ended up on a page, that could help him. So there was a way!

"There might be a way to get your magic back, in the place where magic was born." Gaius told him. Merlin sighed in relieve, but was still a little put off by the word _might._

"The crystal cave." Merlin mumbled, thinking of the time he was there before. Merlin nodded, and planned to go there right away, when Gaius reminded him of something he was stupid to forget.

"It would be unwise to go alone." Gaius reminded him, his eyebrows raised. Merlin groaned, who could help him? His thoughts wandered to his friend, Gwaine, he would help him without needing a reason why.

"I know who to ask." Merlin said, He saw Gaius was about to ask who, but before he could open his mouth to speak, Merlin answered him. "Gwaine."

Merlin put on his jacket, and left the physician's chamber in a hurry. He had no time to lose.

_~#~_

Morgana sighed, why was the girl late? This was the second time already. She had hired someone to spy on Camelot, so that they would be one step ahead of them. The girl was romancing one of the knights, Gwaine she believed his name was, and he'd been foolish enough to tell her everything so far, stupid knights, they could never do something right. The sound of footsteps could finally be heard, and she sighed in relief, the girl was finally here.

The girl smiled apologetically, and looked slightly afraid to be in her company. A slight smile crept up Morgana's lips, thinking that she was already winning, without anyone in Camelot knowing it. Not even Emrys could stop her now that he was neutralized.

"Any news?" Morgana asked her, gently, hiding her annoyance, so that she wouldn't scare her off. The girl nodded and smiled smugly, before she spilled the beans.

"Merlin and Gwaine are going to the crystal cave." The girl spoke, and Morgana's eyes widened, the crystal cave? Wasn't that the birthplace of magic? Did they figure out a way to get Merlin's magic back? This wasn't good; she had to stop them now!

"I must leave. **Now!**" Morgana said, her voice trembling, Merlin wasn't going to thwart with her plans any more, their game was over! Mordred frowned.

"But, what about..." Morgana interrupted him before he could continue.

"You go, alone. I must handle this first." Emrys wasn't going to win from her; she didn't care about some stupid prophecy. Emrys was done, and that was that. She was going to do everything she could to make sure that Emrys was never going to come between her and the crown that she deserved.

_~#~_

Merlin had said goodbye to Gwaine, and he strutted towards the crystal cave in good faith. Now that he was here, he began believing he was actually getting his magic back. He was going to stop this war, and Arthur would be victorious. The cave was dark and chilly, just like any other cave. But there was definitely something different about this cave. You could feel the presence of magic clearly in the air, and he could swear he could feel his own magic returning to him. Slowly, but it was definitely returning. The alarming sound of someone moving ringed in his ears. He tried to pinpoint the source of the sound, but the source quickly revealed itself, Morgana. How did she know!?

"Good to see you again Emrys." She mused in a condescending tone. "Not so almighty now, are you?" he wasn't in the mood to be playing games with her right now, and he definitely wasn't going to show any weakness to her, however scared he might feel, and did actually. She was pretty powerful, and he was basically powerless.

"Show yourself Morgana." He hissed. He was actually surprised at the strength of his own voice. But Morgana didn't seem to feel the same way, when she appeared behind him, with a mocking smile on her face. He held his sword in front of him, ready to strike her. But she didn't seem to be afraid at all. This worried him, but he was cautious not to let his worry show on his face.

"Don't even bother..." She laughed. Her mocking him irritated him to no end. He huffed, and held in his anger. He needed to be guarded. One mistake could lead to his dead easily. She approached him, slowly, her eyes on his sword. He needed to strike now, or he was sure his chances would be over. He took a deep breath and struck her with his blade, hitting her side.

She let out a loud gasp and reached for her wound, but to his surprise, she looked at him with amusement in her eyes. Mere seconds later, the whole room started shaking. At first, he thought it was Morgana's doing, but she seemed just as surprised as he was.

"What's happening!" he yelled at her. Rocks were falling down; one almost hit him on the head. But he managed to avoid it by an inch.

"How should I know!" she responded. He rolled his eyes, and tried to find a way to get out. He rushed to the only exit there was left, before it collapsed before him. He stepped back, to avoid the falling rocks.

A yell was heard behind him, and he saw Morgana getting hit with rocks that were falling down from the ceiling. He was about to run to her, to see if she was still alive, before he got hit himself. The last thing he remembered was his body smacking to the ground.

_~#~_


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Merlin woke up, in a dusty room. He coughed, and the simple action sent a pang of pain rushing through him. He groaned, and took in his surroundings. The whole area, including himself was covered in rocks. The memories of past events came back to him, when he remembered. **Morgana!** He scanned the room for any sign of her, and he couldn't see her. He thought she was gone, when he heard a painful groan, from somewhere under the rocks.

He managed to push the rocks off of him, and looked for her. "Say something!" he yelled, ignoring the pain in his limbs, he couldn't leave Morgana alone, not in a place like this. He heard another muffled groan near him, and he quickly started rummaging through the rocks, to find her. He soon saw the fabric of her dress, and sighed in relief when he managed to free her. She was in a worse state than he was, and she glared at him, but not with equal intensity as she did before. But that was understandable. She didn't say anything when she rose to her feet.

Merlin raised his eyebrows, he was stupid to expect any form of a thank you, and rolled his eyes. He turned his back to her, not wanting to face her at the moment. "Thanks." He heard, it was almost unbearable but it was still there. He turned around to look at her, and she was standing with the help of a cave wall, clearly in some sort of pain.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She looked at him with a more annoyed expression than a thankful one.

"Does it look like it?" she sneered, and Merlin's annoyance returned once again. He was slowly regretting helping her, just a little bit.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" she said, not meeting his eyes. Does she really think he would leave her hurt like this? There must be something to do to help, even though he would probably regret helping her later, he just couldn't leave her to die like this, that was something no one deserved, no matter how evil. He didn't want to admit to her though, that he wanted to help her.

Merlin looked around him, and could only draw one conclusion. They were trapped.

"There's no way out." He said, dreading the fact that he was stuck in a room with just her. She looked around as well, and she came to the same conclusion.

"This is your fault!" she screamed, slowly approaching him, using the cave wall as support. He frowned at the accusation, why was this his fault! He couldn't possibly have done this, he didn't even have magic!

"I don't even have magic right now! How could I have caused some sort of earthquake, if it's someone's fault, it's yours!" he yelled back, she balled her fist, and looked legitimately angry now, and he was starting to regret what he just said. He could see that she was going to use her magic, and he braced for impact. But nothing happened.

He looked at her, and she looked absolutely terrified. She looked at her hands like she had never seen them before. She fell to her knees with a loud thud, and she stared shaking. He didn't know what was happening, and it terrified him to see her that way, Morgana shuddering in fear was something he never thought he'd see.

"What's wrong?" he trembled, she looked at him with wide eyes, and she shook her head in defeat.

"My magic…. It's not working…"

_~#~_

They sat around in silence, after they've come to the shocking discovery that their magic didn't work. For Merlin it was nothing new, since his magic was already taken from him. Morgana didn't take the news all too well, it was understandable, a lot had happened and he had trouble processing it all too. Morgana was on the other side of the room, curled up, she wasn't shaking anymore, but she was staring ahead of her. Just staring. There were several bruises and cuts all over her body, and he knew that they both needed some rest, if they wanted to make it out of here.

"We should rest." He mumbled, just loud enough for Morgana to hear. She slowly turned her head to look at him. Her tired eyes were full of hate and disdain, and it was sad to see her like that. Merlin avoided her piercing gaze, and played with some Small rocks that lay next to him.

"We need to get out of here." Morgana sneered, but her voice was weak, and it was obvious she was in need of some rest. Her eyes were closing, but she was determined to keep them open, to not show any weakness.

"You need to rest." Merlin commanded. He knew that he had to stand his ground. If he wanted her to listen to him. Morgana groaned, and tried to stand. The combination of tiredness and pain made her fall to her knees again. She bit her lip in frustration.

"Alright." She hissed, throwing a rock at the cave wall with force. The rock bounced back with a loud thud, before falling to the cold hard floor. Merlin sighed, and tried to warm himself up; it was cold inside the cave. He noticed Morgana was getting cold as well, but she was probably colder than he was. Since he was the one with a jacket, and all she had was a dress and a thin coat. He did feel bad for her, and to his own chagrin, he ended up offering her his coat for warmth.

"Here" He said holding the coat in front of her. She looked at him, thinking he was joking.

"Don't be ridiculous. It's way too cold to be sleeping without your jacket." She rolled her eyes, and faced the other way. Merlin put his jacket back on and sat next to her. He wasn't going to snuggle up with her, no way, but there was at least some heat radiating from her, to make him a little bit warmer. He lay down, with his back turned to her, and closed his eyes.

_~#~_

When he woke up, a small ray of sunlight illuminated the cave. He shuddered, it was still cold, but it was more bearable than earlier. He looked at Morgana, she was still fast asleep. Good, he didn't need any of her sneering in the morning. She let out a small sigh, and turned. She looked peaceful when she was sleeping. A small smile crept up Merlin's lips, and he shrugged off his jacket once again. He draped it over her. She smiled in her sleep, and held on to the jacket.

Merlin stood up, and looked for the hole where the sunlight was coming from. He found one, higher up on the cave, and sighed in relief when there actually was a way out. The only thing was that they had to climb their way there, and he wasn't sure if Morgana was able to with her injuries. His pain had mostly subsided, and he hoped Morgana's did too. He could hear a groan coming from Morgana, and her eyes fluttered open.

"Good morning." He said before he could stop himself. To his surprise, Morgana gave him a slight smile. She looked at the jacket and frowned. She pushed it off of her, and stood up. Merlin was glad she could stand, yesterday she wasn't able to.

"I've found a way out of here." He said and pointed to the hole, about 2 meters up, but they could climb up there with a little effort. Morgana squinted at the sunlight and moved to where he was standing.

"Thank god." She sighed, and gave him his jacket back. He was glad she didn't ask him any questions, as to why he had put his jacket over her. Since he didn't know the answer himself. For some reason, he was warming up to her.

_~#~_


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

"Do you think you can climb?" he asked Morgana. She frowned and crossed her arms.

"Why not?" she threatened, and he knew better than to continue. He felt a bad feeling in his gut about this, she was barely able to stand yesterday. Even though it was a small climb, he had no magic. And if she somehow fell, he had no idea how to get her out.

"I don't think it's a good idea to climb, you could barely stand yesterday." He reminded her, hoping she would come to her senses, and decide to wait. She shook her head, and looked at the gap in the wall with confidence. He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the argument about to come.

"I'll be fine."

Merlin shook his head, he didn't feel like getting into an argument with her again, but he had no choice. Morgana moved to the wall, and was about to climb. He needed to stop her. This wasn't going to end well.

"Wait!" he held her arm, to stop her from climbing. She glared at him, and pulled her arm out of his grip. "Don't! you'll hurt yourself, we don't even know if you can climb this wall." Thankfully, she stopped trying to climb the wall. She looked up once again, and a smirk appeared on her lips.

"You go first then." She challenged him. He knew she was going to say that. He gulped at the thought of falling down. But it was for the best, it was useless trying to stop Morgana from climbing. And maybe it was better that he tried it out first. He nodded, and searched for somewhere for his feet to stand. Slowly, he made his way upwards. He could feel her stare burning in his back. Her gaze made him even more determined to get up this wall.

With some difficulty, and some bruises, he made it to the gap, and pushed through. He was finally outside. He took a deep breath, and enjoyed the feel of the sun on his face. Now, it was Morgana's turn. He looked down wards, Morgana looked at him, and he swore he could see some fear in her eyes. But she started climbing. She groaned, and pulled herself up. He could see it hurt her to climb, and he was thankful that it wasn't that far. She made it to the top, but that's when she started struggling. He started to panic, when she started to lose her grip on the rocks. Morgana looked at him with sheer panic on her face, when her grip was completely gone.

" **Morgana!**" he yelled when she started to fall. She screamed, and fell down. Back into the cave. He closed his eyes and flinched when he heard her body collide with the ground, and he feared the worst.

_~#~_

He opened his eyes, and looked through the gap. He saw her, on the floor. She was thankfully still breathing. Her eyes were closed, and she looked like a mess. He was certain he wasn't going to let her die. Not on his watch, he wasn't sure why he cared about her so much, since he had long ago given up on her. But there was a certain something about her in that cave, she was somehow different. He looked around him, but all he saw was trees and mud.

He needed to find a way in, and fast. After 5 minutes, he started to panic. She wasn't going to last long in the cold and damp room. How was he going to get her out of there? The only thing he could think of was magic. But he swore that it didn't work. But he just couldn't give up like this. He walked back to the cave entrance. There were rocks blocking the entrance. If he could only get them out of the way. He took a deep breath and positioned himself in front of the rocks.

He held his hand in front of him and closed his eyes. He tried getting to his magic, and again, it was just out of his reach. He had to save her. He tried again, and again. But to no avail. It was getting dark, and Merlin was starting to lose hope. His magic just didn't work. It was so close, yet so far away. He wanted to try one more time. Taking another deep breath, he stood in front of the rocks again, and within all his might, he tried to move the rocks. He opened his eyes when he could hear the rocks moving. His magic had returned! It was weaker than usual, but he felt it getting stronger. At first he moved small rocks out of the way, and when his power had returned enough, he managed to get all the rocks away from the entrance, allowing him to go inside.

He felt relief wash through his body, when he made his way inside. He was going to save Morgana. It sounded so weird in his head, that he almost didn't believe he was actually doing it. But he was, and if he'd regret it or not, he was not going to leave her to die in a place like that.

_~#~_

Morgana felt pain unlike anything she had ever felt before. Her whole body was on fire. She managed to lift her head just enough to take a look around. She had thought that she would see the face of Merlin, but she was shocked to find out he wasn't there. She didn't know why, but she felt incredibly sad. He had left her. To die, alone in this cold cave. Although she hated it, her eyes began to water as she desperately tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. She didn't want to cry, especially not over him, of all people. Not him. She coughed, and immediately wished she hadn't. She held back a scream of pain, and knew she was in a lot of trouble. If somebody didn't find her she was going to die here. The rays of sunlight were shining on top of her, and she could see the gap in the cave wall, provoking her. She could almost hear it laughing at her, mocking her. She let her head fall to the ground. Just waiting till her final hours would arrive.

_~#~_


End file.
